Thursday, March 1, 2012

Yoshinori Ono Talks SFxT's Mega Man

Over at Siliconera, a brief interview has been posted with Yoshinori Ono, producer of Street Fighter X Tekken. There, he offers further reasoning behind Mega Man's outlandish and highly exaggerated appearance. We're well aware this iteration is based off of the infamous Mega Man 1 box art caricature, but there's a little more to the story than that, apparently.

"Mega Man’s… aged since his picture was taken and used in the US box art. It’s been 25 years since, after all. Just like how one’s father may look different in photos taken 25 years ago and today, Mega Man’s outward appearance has changed," explains Ono to Siliconera.

"We decided to do it like this after consulting with Mega Man’s creator Keiji Inafune who left Capcom last year. Story-wise, like all other characters in the game, he is looking to acquire Pandora for a specific reason."

Naturally, we're left to speculate why the old man's out and about looking for Pandora. However, Mega Man's previously revealed bio may hold some clues: "He is always running around in a hurry due to the demands of his partner Roll, and this time he's been asked to travel to Antarctica to retrieve a mysterious box."

Speaking in terms of fighting style, Ono indicates Mega Man's a bit of a rule breaker. "Mega Man and Pac-man have their own unique moves and fighting style. However, Mega Man is a character that fights with weapons while Pacman rides on Mokujin in battles, so the whole thing kind of going against the rules," says Ono.

"And although they are not official tag partners, each character has its own prologue and ending so please do connect to the Sony Entertainment Network and obtain the playable code for both characters. It’s free."

Free DLC? Well isn't this is a lovely surprise. Still, I'm not sure if that incentive will be enough to quell some of the frustration around the community. It's a start, at least. Give me an unlockable classic attire for kicks, and I'm sold.

I know it's cool to hate on Capcom and all, but let's not act like this is the first time they've offered free DLC. The AE2012 balance patch (which they did a great job on) was completely free, and an entire expansive mode was added to Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. And those are just in the past four months.

This is the first I'm hearing of Pac and Mega being DLC though, not sure why they couldn't just be put on the disc. Maybe since they're Playstation-exclusive it's easier this way rather than having to remove the content from the Xbox version.

@Wily: Heroes and Heralds was revealed before game launch, failed to come out at launch, much like Megaman and Pacman here. It's merely a selling point and something to try and be an excuse why you're paying $50 for the game.

Neither of these are 'free DLC' or from the bottom of their heart. They are stuff that SHOULD be on the disc and at launch. The usual for Capcom.

A different complaint here: Capcom, of all companies, knows that console-exclusive characters aren't allowed in tournaments. It's been the case for years. I don't understand why Capcom would go through the effort of making characters and then needlessly distributing them in a way that ensures they won't contribute to the competitive aspect of this game. Especially in this case where neither of the characters seem to have any sort of Sony-only exclusivity.

Not to mention that there's no similar bonus for the Xbox userbase. So it's like they want one version to be clearly superior to the other. Uncool.

@Dhylec: I have that complaint as well. I don't have a PS3 myself but I know for a fact that, if Megaman turns out to be good even if he looks retarded, it would be a major boost to his reputation and popularity, especially if he popped up frequently in tournaments. Which is something most companies would WANT. HINT HINT CAPCOM.

If it's at launch or announced before the game and used as a selling point, that is something that you're getting for the price of admission, aka that $50 bucks you spent. For example, Catwoman in Arkham City.

If it's a constant amount of free content coming out instead of a single push, or if it's announced several months AFTER the launch, THEN it's REAL free DLC. For example, Skyrim Workshop or several of the free DLC songs in Rock Band and Guitar Hero.